


Electric Violins

by Saucery



Category: Maleficent (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Consent Issues, Courtship, Creepy Maleficent, Dom/sub Undertones, Drama, Eventual Sex, F/F, Female Protagonist, Female-Centric, Forbidden Love, Goths, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Sex, Loneliness, Music, Musical Instruments, Opposites Attract, POV Female Character, Past Rape/Non-con, Piercings, Rape Recovery, References to Shakespeare, Revenge, Romance, Secret Relationship, Seduction, Shakespeare Quotations, Strong Female Characters, Tattoos, Teacher-Student Relationship, Teaching, Violins, YouTube
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 01:50:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1964403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saucery/pseuds/Saucery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maleficent is a teenage delinquent and Aurora is her idealistic young teacher.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Electric Violins

**Author's Note:**

> The explicit rating is for later chapters. I will warn for them when they arrive, so you may skip them if you wish.

* * *

 

Aurora had been warned about _those_ students, the ones that talked back, that were sullen and uncooperative and liked making trouble. Despite the warnings, she didn’t believe in classifying people as “problems,” because that was dehumanizing and unfair. She was determined to treat each of them with respect, and was resolved to give them the benefit of the doubt, no matter their reputations. Trust was the key. If she trusted them, that trust would be rewarded.

Perhaps she was naive. Perhaps her students would end up walking all over her. Perhaps she was just another idealistic young teacher that would be chewed up and spit out by the system, frustrated after years of being overworked and underpaid. But she was twenty-two and brand new, and she expected to fall in love with the profession she’d always felt was her calling.

She hadn’t expected to fall in love with a student, as well.

 

* * *

 

It was hard not to be aware of Maleficent, tall and pale and clad entirely in black, from her black knee-high boots to her black leather jacket to her black fingerless gloves to her black nails and her black eyeliner. She had close-cropped hair that she’d managed to shape into a pair of short horns sprouting on either side of her head. A series of piercings and miniature crosses glinted on her right ear, but her left was unmarked.

It should have been over-the-top, but instead, it just _worked_. Maleficent looked and moved like a living shadow, dark and ephemeral, not quite here, a creature from some other world. Nobody spoke to her or greeted her, and her cold eyes passed over her peers as if they, in turn, did not exist. Maleficent exuded a casual menace that discouraged the curious and the friendly from approaching her, although the whispers about her violent past might’ve had something to do with it, too.

Aurora was assured by Henry McKinnon, the History teacher, that Maleficent had, in fact, attacked a student at her previous school, nearly gutting him with a broken glass bottle and hospitalizing him. After an unspecified amount of time spent in a juvenile detention facility, Maleficent had been released, and her guardian had enrolled her in the Moors High School, where Aurora currently taught. Apparently, only the guardian’s considerable social and financial influence had secured Maleficent a place here; if not for that, the school wouldn’t have accepted a teenager like her. McKinnon grew disdainful as he said those two words— _like her_. That disdain rubbed Aurora the wrong way, but she kept her own counsel, because it wouldn’t do to alienate her primary source of information.

Maleficent’s history was… remarkable, certainly. Impressive. Intimidating. As intimidating as Maleficent herself was.

And yet, she was a student, which meant that Aurora couldn’t afford to be intimidated by her. That, and Aurora had pledged not to judge a student based on a poor reputation. Maleficent’s superb academic performance was a clue that it was not a lack of effort or intelligence that set Maleficent apart; she invariably excelled in tests and assignments. In this school, at least, she wasn’t a delinquent. Not at all. Her appearance notwithstanding, she had never once been rude to Aurora, or confrontational with her classmates. While Maleficent did seem to have an unnerving habit of… staring at Aurora, sometimes, she was never outright rude.

Which was why Aurora decided that she would encourage classroom participation from Maleficent, just as she would from any pupil.

“We’re starting _King Lear_ this week,” Aurora announced, to groans and complaints from most of her class. Except Maleficent, who was, of course, serenely disengaged. This was Aurora’s chance to engage her. “Oh, c’mon, kids. You’ve encountered Shakespeare before, haven’t you? I’m going to ask you to tell me what your favorite lines from Shakespeare are… if you remember them, that is. Anyone who replies with a correct quote won’t have to do the homework, this weekend.”

Thankfully, the bribe worked, and a few hands shot into the air. Andrew Harper narrowly avoided misquoting “the ides of March,” Kamala Padmeshwaran offered “my kingdom for a horse,” and the Tanner twins completed each other’s renditions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Aurora steeled herself and addressed Maleficent—who had been top of her grade the previous year, and therefore should be able to quote Shakespeare with ease. “What about you, Maleficent? Do you have a quote to offer?”

The whole classroom fell silent. Like a tomb.

What, had no teacher ever asked Maleficent a direct question, before? That couldn’t be.

As for Maleficent, she flowed into an even looser sprawl on her chair, crossing an ankle over her knee in a posture that was strangely masculine. Without breaking eye-contact with Aurora, she said, in a low, husky voice: “I’d compare you to a summer’s day, but you _are_ one, aren’t you? No comparison required.” Maleficent inclined her head. “A line from _Romeo and Juliet_ , then. If I profane with my unworthiest hand / This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: / My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand / To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.” Maleficent’s gaze dropped to Aurora’s lips, and then rose back up to her eyes, glittering with challenge.

Aurora was stunned.

Some of the kids had their mouths hanging open. The rest began whispering, giggling, as Maleficent refused to look away.

Aurora flushed, knowing she was going bright red but helpless to stop it. This was—this was harassment, wasn’t it? Did Maleficent enjoy putting teachers on the spot? No wonder nobody had encouraged participation from her, if this was the form that participation took.

But Maleficent had done as Aurora had asked, and nothing more. She had quoted Shakespeare, and without a single error, at that. She hadn’t violated the rules; it was her attitude that was risqué, not her answer itself. Technically, Aurora had no grounds to discipline her—but that same ambiguity also worked in Aurora’s favor. Aurora didn’t have to act like she’d caught the sexual subtext, like she’d felt—

No.

“Well done,” Aurora finally said, unsticking her tongue from the roof of her parched, dry mouth. “That was flawless.” She ignored the murmuring of her students and turned to the board, writing the date on it, hoping that the fingers gripping her stub of chalk weren’t shaking too visibly.

The lesson resumed without further complications, thank heavens, although Maleficent’s classmates continued talking in hushed tones when they thought Aurora wasn’t paying attention, and the term “lesbian” was bandied about with a sort of scandalous, vicious glee. The label was clearly being used to further ostracize and demean Maleficent, and Aurora—who had a zero-tolerance policy toward homophobia—chastised the culprits, effectively silencing them for the rest of the class. She didn’t dare look at Maleficent, but she could feel that steady, heavy gaze on her, summoning the heat within her to the surface of her skin, making her blush deeper with every second. It was humiliating, that her discomfort was so visible. She tried to forget what Maleficent had said, to focus on discussing Lear’s daughters and their flattery. She didn’t succeed.

At last, the bell rang for lunch, and Aurora almost collapsed with relief. The students flooded out of the classroom, all a-chatter, bubbling with eagerness to share today’s incident with their friends, no doubt.

So absorbed was Aurora in gathering her papers that she startled when a silhouette fell across her desk.

She knew, before looking up, that it was Maleficent standing opposite her. She still froze when she saw that sharp, angular, carnivorous face. She hadn’t noticed its carnivorousness, before.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” Maleficent said, amused.

“I’m not afraid,” said Aurora, frowning.

“Really? Could’ve fooled me.” Maleficent hitched her bag higher over her shoulder. “I was sure you’d call me out. Make me stay behind. Tell me off. But you were too scared to do that, weren’t you?” Maleficent grinned with all her teeth. “What, did you think I’d eat you alive?”

“I saw no reason to punish you for doing exactly what I asked of you. Congratulations on giving the best reply.”

“It was hardly my best.”

“Then you’d better score the highest in my subject.”

“Will you let me kiss you, then?”

“What?” Aurora fumbled, her spare handouts spilling out of her hands. She glanced around the room in a panic—yes, it was empty, but for them. “What’re you saying?”

“What I want to.”

“Good for you. Self-expressiveness and assertiveness are both qualities to be admired. But so is discretion.” Aurora realized she was babbling, and forced herself to get to the point. “You do comprehend that you’ve just handed more ammunition to your detractors. They’ll use your sexuality against you, if they can.”

An unreadable emotion flashed across Maleficent’s features, and a note of disbelief entered her tone. “Are you… Are you worried about me?”

“ _Someone_ ought to be. Because you obviously aren’t.”

“I—” Maleficent blinked, and then that carnivorousness was back, twofold. “I don’t have a policy of hiding my sexuality. I haven’t outed myself for you, if that’s what’s freaking you out. What I did was my responsibility, not yours.”

“I’m glad you understand that. Please, never repeat it.” Aurora shook her head. “Honestly, what were you thinking?”

“About fucking you.”

Aurora stared.

Maleficent smiled. It was beautiful. And terrifying.

Aurora stumbled backward. Maleficent’s hand whipped out to grab her wrist, tight as a vise, and Aurora’s nerves sang with a sudden, burning electricity, her heart beating rabbit-quick. This couldn’t be happening. It shouldn’t be happening. “Let go,” she said, the words rasping out of her as if dragged over hot coals, her pulse hammering in her ears.

“But you don’t want me to,” Maleficent said, slowly, cajolingly.

“Yes, I do.” _Be strong_ , Aurora said to herself, though she’d always dreamt of a woman touching her like this, confidently and possessively, and _taking_ —

But this wasn’t a woman. This was a girl. A seventeen-year-old girl. A student.

“Let. Me. Go,” Aurora repeated, more firmly, and after studying Aurora carefully, Maleficent let go. But not before ghosting her fingertips along the inside of Aurora’s palm, making her shiver.

“I recognized you were different, right from the start,” Maleficent said. “You weren’t like those boring teachers. I saw you, and wanted you, and what I want, I get.”

“That’s very—that’s very arrogant,” Aurora said, still trying to catch her breath.

Maleficent’s smile became more wolfish. “You like it.”

“I do _not_.”

“No? Too bad. I made a bet with myself, that first day in class, when you were wearing that white dress with red flowers on it, like you’d stepped out of a wet dream. I swore to myself that if you didn’t try to talk to me, I’d leave you alone. Otherwise,” Maleficent’s eyes gleamed, “I’d come after you.”

“And this is your version of ‘coming after me.’ ” Aurora’s heart just wasn’t settling down. She concentrated on retrieving the fallen handouts and stuffing them into her satchel.

“Oh, I haven’t even begun.”

It sounded like a threat. It sounded like a promise. It sounded like fate, like inevitability. But Aurora didn’t believe in fate. “I’m going to the staff lounge for lunch,” she said, calmly, or as calmly as she could pretend. “And we’re not going to mention this again. If you persist in… bothering me like this, I’ll have to report you.”

Maleficent only smirked, like she knew Aurora wouldn’t report her, and left.

Well. On the plus side, Maleficent wasn’t disengaged, anymore.

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title comes from my headcanon that Maleficent listens to electric string bands and soloists, and plays an electric violin, herself. Oh, and by Maleficent’s “horns,” I mean something like [this](http://oliviamakesstuff.tumblr.com/post/33515013869/diy-demon-horn-hair).

**Author's Note:**

> Like my writing? Want updates? Follow me on [Tumblr](http://saucefactory.tumblr.com/)!


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